Why the Senate Rejected Nasir El-Rufai, Stella Okotete and Senator Abubakar Danladi Ministerial Nomination

The rejection of the ministerial nominations of Nasir El-Rufai, Stella Okotete, and Senator Abubakar Danladi by the Nigerian Senate has sparked intense speculation, with questions swirling about the factors that led to their nominations being rejected.

This article attempts to provide answers to these questions by delving into the complexities and possible reasons behind the Senate’s refusal to confirm these individuals for ministerial roles.

Before we delve into the reasons for their rejection it is pertinent to state that the Senate took this action after they received letters from the Department of State Service and the Office of the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu. The letter noted that the Senate should deter the confirmation of the trio for national security.

The next question on your mind could be, how their nomination will threaten national security. Join us as we examine what could have led to their rejection.

Nasir El-Rufai- Alleged religious colouration and genocidal attacks

Nasir El-Rufai, Former governor of Kaduna State, is known for his controversial statement about the role of religion in the 2023 election. 

In a video, El-Rufai had during a meeting with some Muslim clerics a day before he exited the office, justified his choice of Muslims to occupy top positions in the Kaduna State Government as against Christians, claiming that Muslims voted for the All Progressive Congress (APC) during the last election. 

El-Rufai also allegedly told his audience in the video that the Muslim dominance in the governance of Kaduna State has come to stay, adding that this trend has been successfully replicated at the National level With the election of Bola Tinubu as president. 

This comes as protesters under the aegis of Secure Nation Group (SNG) in Abuja asked the Tinubu-led government to investigate and prosecute El-Rufai over alleged genocidal attacks on predominantly Shia Muslim communities in Kaduna State.

Stella Okotete- Alleged fraud and abuse of public office

Stella Okotete, former Executive Director of the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) is also facing investigation for alleged fraud and abuse of public office. 

Earlier, the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), had asked Okotete for her pay slips from 2019, statement of bank account from the same period, and loans approved as the Executive Director NEXIM among others.

Reports also say that top Nigerian lawyers from Juryman Associate Chambers asked the Senate to properly investigate Okotete over massive corruption allegations against her including round-tripping and recycling of different loans and use of various front companies as proxies to defraud NEXIM Bank of billions of Naira and Dollars. This could be the reason why her nomination was rejected.

Abubakar Danladi- Alleged certificate forgery and age falsification

Senator Danladi was reportedly barred by the Supreme Court from contesting or holding political offices in 2019 over alleged certificate forgery and age falsification. 

He was disqualified from contesting any election for 10 years after he presented a forged document to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in 2019.

From the above-stated reasons, it is obvious that approving the ministerial nominations of El-Rufai, Okotete and Danladi could have led to protests that can threaten national security.